BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles has come within a whisker of overtaking his Radio 2 rival Terry Wogan as the nation's favourite breakfast show, while BBC Radio 4 achieved an Obama-inspired record share of the audience in the latest official radio listening figures.

Moyles – who last month denied a report that he would be axed from the breakfast show later this year – drew 7.7 million listeners in the first three months of this year, up from 7.3 million the previous three months, according to Rajar figures published today.

Wogan's Radio 2 show had 7.78 million listeners, down from 7.96 million the previous three months, with his lead over Moyles now cut to 80,000 listeners, a fraction of the 660,000 gap in the previous three months.

But both Wogan and Moyles were down on their biggest-ever audiences, achieved in the first three months of last year, when they had 8.1 million and 7.72 million listeners respectively.

BBC Radio 4 had an average weekly reach of 9.98 million listeners, up from 9.81 million in the previous three months and 9.56 million in the first three months of 2008.

The Today programme was also up, with 6.69 million listeners compared with 6.60 million the previous quarter and 6.42 million in the same period in 2008.

Overall Radio 4 enjoyed its biggest share of the audience since new ratings methodology was introduced more than a decade ago. It had a 12.5% share, up from 12.4% the previous quarter and 12.2% at the start of 2008.

The Radio 4 controller, Mark Damazer, said: "It is encouraging that Radio 4 had almost 10 million listeners and a share of 12.5%, which is the highest since the new ratings methodology was introduced.

"Listening traditionally goes up with big news events and in the last quarter we had Barack Obama's inauguration and the worsening state of the economy which is always a constant source of interest, as well as the snow which affected many parts of the country earlier this year."

Radio 4's Today programme had a weekly reach of 6.69 million listeners, up from 6.6 million in the previous quarter and 6.42 million in the same period last year.

BBC Radio 2 was the only one of the BBC's five main national stations to lose listeners year on year, down to 13.46 million from 13.63 million in the first three months in 2008.

The station, whose controller, Lesley Douglas, resigned in the wake of the "Sachsgate" scandal last October, also saw its share of the audience decline over the 12-month period, from 16.5% to 15.9%. However, it remains the UK's most popular radio station by some distance.

BBC Radio 1 had an average of 11.07 million listeners a week, up from 10.58 million listeners the previous quarter and marginally up year on year. Its share of the audience of 10.3% was up on the previous quarter's 10.1%, but down year on year from 10.6%.

BBC Radio 5 Live added more than 400,000 listeners year on year, up from 9.56 million to 9.98 million, with its share growing marginally from 4.6% to 4.7%. Like BBC Radio 4, the live news and sports network is likely to have benefited from a busy news quarter.

BBC Radio 3 was also up year on year. It had an average weekly reach of 1.99 million listeners, up from 1.98 million the previous quarter and 1.79 million in the first three months of 2008. Year on year, its share grew from 0.9% to 1.1%.

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